rs; to try to understand clearly why the reign of a great
Queen should have left its mark upon our history in such a way that
men speak of the Victorian Age as one of the greatest ages that have
ever been.

If an Elizabethan had been asked whether he considered the Queen of
England a great woman or not, he would undoubtedly have answered
"Yes," and given very good reasons for his answer. It was not for
nothing that the English almost worshipped their Queen in "those
spacious times of great Elizabeth." Edmund Spenser, one of the
world's great poets, hymned her as "fayre Elisa" and "the flowre of
Virgins":

Helpe me to blaze
Her worthy praise;
Which, in her sexe doth all excell!

Throughout her long reign, courtiers, statesmen, soldiers, and
people all united in serving her gladly and to the best of their
powers.

Yet she could at times prove herself to be hard, cruel, and
vindictive; she was mean, even miserly, when money was wanted for
men or ships; she was excessively vain, loved dress and finery, and
was often proud almost beyond bearing.

Notwithstanding all her faults, she was the best beloved of all
English monarchs because of her never-failing courage and strength
of mind, and she made the Crown respected, feared, and loved as no
other ruler had done before her, and none other, save Queen Victoria,
has reigned as she did in her people's hearts.

She lived for her country, and her country's love and admiration were
her reward. During her reign the seas were swept clear of foreign
foes, and her country took its place in the front rank of Great Powers.
Hers was the Golden Age of Literature, of Adventure and Learning,
an age of great men and women, a New England.

If an Elizabethan Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep and awakened again
at the opening of Victoria's reign, more than 200 years later, what
would he have found? England still a mighty Power, it is true,
scarcely yet recovered from the long war against Napoleon, with
Nelson and Wellington enthroned as the national heroes. But the times
were bad in many ways, for it was "a time of ugliness: ugly religion,
ugly law, ugly relations between rich and poor, ugly clothes, ugly
furniture."

The England of that day, it must be remembered, was the England
described so faithfully in Charles Dickens' early works. It was far
from being the England we know now. In 1836 appeared the first number
of Mr Pickwick's travels. _The Pickwick Pap